The musings, recipes and adventures of a girl that loves to eat

Peanut Butter Blossoms

This has always been my absolute most favorite Christmas cookie. Simple, quick and irresistably yummy.

I was thinking about why my family only makes Peanut Butter Blossoms around Christmas, and Nate told me that his mom would make them all year-round. They were the go-to “need cookies for a special occasion” cookie. And why wouldn’t you make these cookies more often? They are really good. So then I thought about it some more and I decided the reason why these cookies are only made at Christmas is because my waist line can’t handle them being made on a more regular basis.

The secret to these cookies is baking them just over half way before you put the chocolate in the middle. Otherwise the chocolate melts and looks a little charred. Although if you don’t want other people to eat them so you can hoard them for yourself, that may be a good strategy. I’m speaking in a completely theoretical sense here, but if that were the case, that is what you could do. Just sayin’.

In a pinch we’ve also used peanut butter cups, which is so right-darn-tasty it’s dangerous.

I used the peanut butter cookie recipe from The Joy of Cooking because that is what we’ve always done (what are traditions if not completely without reason?). I’m sure other peanut butter cookie recipes would turn out nicely too, but these are extra-peanut buttery and delicious. And, who knows, with the weather we’re supposed to have tonight/tomorrow in DC tomorrow I might just make another batch!

[We’re supposed to get up to a foot of snow! Yay! Although an alarmingly large number of people are freaking out. As a Wisconsinite I’ll never be able to understand the reaction to snow in these parts…]

Peanut Butter Blossoms

(Adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

1 c butter

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c sugar

1 egg

1 c creamy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 c flour

30-45 Hershey kisses (number depends on how big your cookies are and how many you eat in the process…)

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugars, then add in the peanut butter, egg and vanilla and mix. Sift dry ingredients and add into wet ingredients. Roll the dough into teaspoon size balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 7 minutes, remove from oven and press a Hershey kiss into the middle to each cookie– don’t press to hard because the cookie will break. Return cookies to oven and bake for another 6 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for a minute or two on the tray, and then remove to a cooling rack.